Time to see who is [H]ard

M

metallicafan

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - May 2010
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
2,205
OK. I know there are some folks up here with some very [H]ardcore [H]ardware. As you may or may not know the Hardforum has one of the top Distributed Computing teams on the planet. The following is a friendly invitation to join us in a Christmas Challenge. I'll try to keep this post relatively short as to not loose peoples interest along the way. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.

The World Community Grid is a grid of PCs using a common software client to help do research projects that will benefit humanity. They do a much better job of explaining it here than I ever could. The research projects run from Cancer research to researching how to create a strain of rice that will produce better yields (and thus more food for the worlds population) to researching ways to produce clean energy.

Bottom line is that we could always use more CPU power to help us in our challenge. The software is easy to setup and configure and pretty much maintenance free. Its all for a good cause. If that's not incentive enough the guys over at Xtreme Systems are currently winning the challenge. We cant let them win without a fight can we? :)

If you decide to come join us (even if just for this challenge) here is a easy step by step guide to get you started. Just for a point of reference a stock i7 860 will contribute about 25K point per day to the challenge. So a few i7s could really help the cause!

Thanks for reading and your consideration.
 
I'm in with my Q6600 @ 3.4ghz! Just a few quick questions though:
1) Is WCG limited to Intel x86 CPU's?
2) Is BOINC multi-threaded?
 
Awesome! thanks aznofazns. That quad will help out a lot. :)

1. The only non-x86 processors that I know of that BOINC will work with are some of the older PowerPC Mac processors (before they moved to Intel). But all AMD and Intel processors should work with the client.
2. Yes, BOINC is multithreaded in the sense that if you have a Quad core it will load up 4 work units and run 4 threads simultaneously.

Thanks for the extra CPU horsepower. Let me know if you need any further help or have any other questions! :)
 
been a while since I was an active participant in DC but now that it's getting cold, I guess I could use a space heater. I'm in with my Xeon 5140. My Q6600 might be joining too.
 
Thanks kazak. I knew there were some Hard folks up here in the Intel forum. Thanks for adding a Quad or two. :cool:

Stop down and say hi in the Christmas Race thread down in the DC sub forum if you have a chance. Its a good group down there.:)

Also worth noting: Some of you may be worried about the client running when you dont want it to run. The BOINC client is very easy to pause or suspend should you want to do some photo editing, encoding, gaming, etc.
 
Im not sure if that is a question or a statement but yes, you can do GPU and CPU folding on the same machine. This challenge isnt associated with the folding@home project but rather is a BOINC project geared towards doing research projects to benefit humanity. We'd be grateful if you'd we willing to help. Thanks for considering it. :)
 
I got a q6600 ill start using as soon as I can get a new power supply for it, you may have more luck in the Distrubuted Computing section though
 
Joined :)
I've already run climateprediction, Einstein, Milkyway & SETI for about a month
One question, there're [H]ardOCP & [H]ard|OCP team, they're the same ? (I join the first one)
 
obey3one said:
I got a q6600 ill start using as soon as I can get a new power supply for it, you may have more luck in the Distrubuted Computing section though
Click to expand...

That would be great. I'll mark another tally in the Quad count! :D Good luck with the new PSU. Its a bummer when those die. Personally I've had great luck with my Corsair units. And I seem to demand a lot out of mine. :D Also - I have a post going down in the DC forum called Christmas Race 2009. Stop down and say hi if you have a chance.

RainHNg said:
Joined :)
I've already run climateprediction, Einstein, Milkyway & SETI for about a month
One question, there're [H]ardOCP & [H]ard|OCP team, they're the same ? (I join the first one)
Click to expand...

Yeah unfortunately a couple of the [H]ard teams are older teams that got created before we were very organized. Our current team is this one, and has like 170 some members. This is the team that we joined in the challenge and the only really current HardOCP team so make sure to join that team if you haven't already.

Good to see another well versed DC'er. I have been running quite a few other projects myself over the past year. thanks for contributing.
 
Quick question, which would be more benefical as i have 2nd system not currently being used besides email and surfing; ie wife took it over.

CPU folding vs GPU and system in question is UD4P- i7 920 @ 3.2 and SLI 280's. Not familiar but worth giving it a try.

Any helps appreciated.
 
Just joined. Will be starting it up right after my current download finishes.

Core i7-920 @ 3.8Ghz
 
troisanh said:
Quick question, which would be more benefical as i have 2nd system not currently being used besides email and surfing; ie wife took it over.

CPU folding vs GPU and system in question is UD4P- i7 920 @ 3.2 and SLI 280's. Not familiar but worth giving it a try.

Any helps appreciated.
Click to expand...
Well there are quite a few members of our DC team that run WCG on their CPUs (because of the ease of client configuration and low maintenance) and then fold on their GPUs. This is a very popular setup. Your 920 would do very well in WCG and would be a great benefit to the challenge. For some help setting up your SLi'ed 280s head down to the DC sub forum. There are lots of very knowledgeable folks who are more than willing to help as we are trying to hold off Team EVGA from taking our #1 rank in folding@home. :)

aznofazns said:
EDIT: nevermind!
Click to expand...
Did you get your BOINC client setup? :) Feel free to ask questions if you have some.

cyclone3d said:
Just joined. Will be starting it up right after my current download finishes.

Core i7-920 @ 3.8Ghz
Click to expand...

Thanks cyclone3d! Thats a nice OC on that processor. It will take a few days for the points to even out but I'd be interested to see how many PPD (points per day) a i7 at that speed will put up. My i7 860 @ 2.8GHz is doing about 25K WCG PPD. I havent OC'ed yet because im waiting on a RAM RMA. I hope to get it back soon. :)
 
metallicafan said:
Yeah unfortunately a couple of the [H]ard teams are older teams that got created before we were very organized. Our current team is this one, and has like 170 some members. This is the team that we joined in the challenge and the only really current HardOCP team so make sure to join that team if you haven't already.

Good to see another well versed DC'er. I have been running quite a few other projects myself over the past year. thanks for contributing.
Click to expand...

re-team...Done.

I'll temporarily run only this project for teh xmas challenge
 
You've got 4 threads from my 1st 920 crunching for you now!

Once I get a new wireless card (Win 7 doesn't like old XP era ones :D) I'll get you a Q6600.
 
I will be in as off tuesday. A E5300 at 4.1GHZ and pentium d 915 at 2.8GHZ and possibly my dads i7 975 at 4.67GHZ. I will post back once its confirmed I will be in deh challenge. :)
 
Cool, I'll join and get my friends 4ghz e8400 in too.

Although I'm curious...how much of my computer resources will this take up? I mean, I'm not going to be load the entire time, hindering my ability to do anything else...?

Hopefully I'll get something more exciting then rice grains :p
 
RainHNg said:
re-team...Done.

I'll temporarily run only this project for teh xmas challenge
Click to expand...
Thanks RainHNg. Since you seem to be running some other projects regularly, make sure to stop down and say hi in the DC forum. :)

patric said:
You've got 4 threads from my 1st 920 crunching for you now!

Once I get a new wireless card (Win 7 doesn't like old XP era ones :D) I'll get you a Q6600.
Click to expand...
Two more Quads? Man you guys are great. Makes me wonder why I waited so long to get a quad. Apparently they are the best thing since sliced bread. :D (Which I cant argue with.)

ew1075 said:
Does it have to be an Intel CPU?
Click to expand...
Nope. Any x86 processor will work. It can be an AMD or Intel. Even older Intel/AMD processors (like Pentium 2,3,4) will work.

Matthew Kane said:
I will be in as off tuesday. A E5300 at 4.1GHZ and pentium d 915 at 2.8GHZ and possibly my dads i7 975 at 4.67GHZ. I will post back once its confirmed I will be in deh challenge. :)
Click to expand...
Wow. That woulds be great. That is some serious clocks on those CPUs. Im sure you already know this but I will mention it just to be on the safe side. BOINC will use 100% of the CPU, so make sure there is adequate cooling on those OCs. Nice work!

King Icewind said:
Cool, I'll join and get my friends 4ghz e8400 in too.

Although I'm curious...how much of my computer resources will this take up? I mean, I'm not going to be load the entire time, hindering my ability to do anything else...?

Hopefully I'll get something more exciting then rice grains :p
Click to expand...
The BOINC client will use 100% of your CPU but will run the work units at a very low priority. So for things like web browsing and email, etc you probably wont notice any difference. Should you want to do something a little more intense like game photo edit, etc some users have found the BOINC client is still good enough to let it run and it doesnt affect their performance. Other users prefer to suspend the project, by selecting the correct project on the projects tab and then hit suspend.

If you wish, you can go to the WCG homepage, click on my grid, login and then go to My Projects and select the specific projects you want to run. Some people prefer to run specific ones and this option gives them this control.

Thanks for joining the cause and helping us with this challenge!! As always if you have other questions pelase ask and I'll try to answer. :) You guys are awesome.
 
Adding my wife's Q6600 that is running at 3.36Ghz at the moment.... It will run at 3.84Ghz but I am using a wimpy-ish cooler on it since it is not my main system anymore.
 
Nice work dude. :) So you are running 2 Quads then cyclone?

Thanks to your guys and several others in the DC forum who have joined in we are gaining quite a few points. Here is a link to the team page. Look at the graphs at the bottom of the page. This trend will probably continue as it seems to take a day or two for points to level out in WCG when new crunchers start. :) Thanks again guys. Keep up the good work!
 
metallicafan said:
Nice work dude. :) So you are running 2 Quads then cyclone?

Thanks to your guys and several others in the DC forum who have joined in we are gaining quite a few points. Here is a link to the team page. Look at the graphs at the bottom of the page. This trend will probably continue as it seems to take a day or two for points to level out in WCG when new crunchers start. :) Thanks again guys. Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

Yep, 2 Quads :)

I looked at the points page a bit ago... looks like points are building up quite fast. And my member page is only showing a bit under 10k points so far, but that should get a lot higher pretty soon.

From the stats page, it looks like the run time is added together for each work unit completed and not for how long you have really been running the client.
 
Yeah run time is actually processor time. So if you run a Qaud core at 100% on all 4 cores for a day, in theory you should accumulate 4 days of run time. :)

Your points will continue to climb quickly. Most of the work units in WCG get sent to two different people and then points arent awarded until both units come back to the server. So as a result it takes a few days to really start getting your points flowing in. You should be putting up probably close to 25 -30K PPD here in another day or two. ;)
 
I also posted in the DC sub-forum. My 2 quad core rigs are now folding for team HardOCP. Looks like we have some catching up to do.

Rig 1 - Q9550 @ 3.8

Rig 2 - Q6600 @ 3.0
 
Is this folding? What's the point? It seems like a waste of power or strutting your e-peen.
 
lodingi said:
I also posted in the DC sub-forum. My 2 quad core rigs are now folding for team HardOCP. Looks like we have some catching up to do.

Rig 1 - Q9550 @ 3.8

Rig 2 - Q6600 @ 3.0
Click to expand...

TheQuestian said:
Bytheway, I joined today. I think everything is running correctly; hope I can be some help!
Click to expand...

Good to have your help guys. Those quads will be some nice additions to the race. :)
Thanks!
 
AMDXP said:
Is this folding? What's the point? It seems like a waste of power or strutting your e-peen.
Click to expand...

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, there are thousands of people in the DC community who dont think this is a waste of electricity or a way to strut your epeen.

The CPU power donated to these projects helps universities and other organizations conduct research looking for answers to many of todays biggest health problems like AIDs, cancer, etc.
 
'nother q6600 - mostly run stock - will run 24/7 and when I'm not compiling if the wife doesn't find it. Possibly an old school xeon (2003ish era) as well if I can fix the fan.
 
spenny2112 said:
I think I'll bring the heat...
Click to expand...

I see you have an i7@ 4.0GHz in your sig. That rig would score you probably 30K PPD and be a great asset in the challenge. :) Just our of curiosity, what kind of load temps do you get with that cooler? I only ask because I just got an i7 860 and that same cooler. I haven't OCed yet (waiting to get my second stick of RAM back from RMA).

bobdole369 said:
'nother q6600 - mostly run stock - will run 24/7 and when I'm not compiling if the wife doesn't find it. Possibly an old school xeon (2003ish era) as well if I can fix the fan.
Click to expand...

The addition of 2 more chips is greatly appreciated. :) Thanks a bunch. I see we moved up another 2 places in the challenge today. The teams above us should start to worry. :D
 
Is it smartest to run all of the applications or just 1 or 2 at a time (i.e. a cpu dependent app and a gpu dependent app)?
 
You can count me in, q6600 @ 3.6. I also have a 8800gtx which is overclocked. Whats the best way of setting up the gpu client also?
 
Well the WCG doesnt use GPU processing, only CPU processing. So it will only use your CPU. As far as which projects to run, it totally your call. If you dont have a personal state or preference in any of the projects, the Muscular Dystrophy and Rice projects have been scoring pretty well for me. :) Thanks again for helping.

Here is a link to the HardOCP team. Some people have been confused as to what team to join since there are some old (no longer used) HardOCP teams. :)
 
darkflames said:
You can count me in, q6600 @ 3.6. I also have a 8800gtx which is overclocked. Whats the best way of setting up the gpu client also?
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for adding your Q6600 darkflames. As I mentioned above WCG doesnt use GPUs but there are other projects that do. The folding@home project does as does the GPUGRID project. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks down in the DC sub forum that would be more than happy to help you get your 8800 setup on one of these projects if you wish to do so. GPUGRID even uses the BOINC framework so you wouldnt have to download and install another client. Just attach to the GPUGRID project. is your GTX an older G80 core? Im not sure if those older cores work with GPUGRID though. I'd have to check for sure.
 
metallicafan said:
Great! Thanks for adding your Q6600 darkflames. As I mentioned above WCG doesnt use GPUs but there are other projects that do. The folding@home project does as does the GPUGRID project. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks down in the DC sub forum that would be more than happy to help you get your 8800 setup on one of these projects if you wish to do so. GPUGRID even uses the BOINC framework so you wouldnt have to download and install another client. Just attach to the GPUGRID project. is your GTX an older G80 core? Im not sure if those older cores work with GPUGRID though. I'd have to check for sure.
Click to expand...

Yes it is, ill just fiddle with it later. But im still curious also to see how many PPD I get with my system. How long do I need to run the program untill it tells me? 24 hours?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top